The Nation (Nairobi)
Sam Kiplagat
4 November 2009
Nairobi — A man was on Wednesday charged with accessing a national examination paper prior to the scheduled time for the test.
In what could confirm Nation reports that papers for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exams have been leaked, the man was charged with gaining access to the biology paper 2 on Tuesday.
Mr Albert Nyarangi Moindi allegedly revealed the paper's contents to unauthorised persons.
But in his plea, he denied illegally accessing the examination paper before it became a public document.
The court heard that Mr Moindi accessed the paper jointly with others yet to be arrested.
He denied the charge and was remanded in police custody until today to allow police to complete investigations.
The charges came after the Saturday Nation published a report based on investigations that showed a cartel of traders had established centres from where it relays question papers to its agents and candidates long before the exams begin.
The question that the prosecution will have to prove is whether Mr Muindi was involved in the leak or not.
The questions are conveyed to candidates using short text messages and phone calls.
Some of the papers that have been obtained by the Nation before they are published include geography, biology and English literature. Copy of questions
On Monday, the Daily Nation obtained hand-written questions of biology paper 2, which matched the paper that candidates sat later in the day. The exam was to be taken from 10.30am, but the Nation had obtained a copy of the questions by 8am.
Kenya National Examinations Council had launched investigations and would comment on the matter later, said Corporate Affairs manager Ken Ramani.
Kenya National Association of Parents secretary-general Musau Ndunda criticised Knec for disputing reports that some exams had been leaked. "They are denying the obvious when the evidence is clear," he said.
A total of 330,000 Form Four candidates are sitting the exams that began on October 21.
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